Imágenes de página
PDF
ePub

parate and distinct from the hereditary property of the crown.-3. The establishment of an intermediate administration, and a national parliament, capable of enlightening the prince, and of performing important services both to him and the nation.-4. A Judicial organization, which shall render the decisions of the court of justice independent on the will of the prince, and make all the citizens equal in the eye of the law.-5. A municipal administration, which shall be the property of no man, but to which all, without distinction, shall be admissible.6. The maintenance of the regulations which we have made for securing the payments to the creditors of the state-His majesty the emperor of the French and king of Italy, our illustrions brother, having been pleased to confer upon this act his powerful guarantee, we are assured, that our hopes with regard to the prosperity of our beloved people of the kingdom of Naples, thus reposing upon his widespread glory, shall not Experience disappointment. Constitutional Statute of the Kingdom of

Naples and Sicily.

Joseph Napoleon, king of Naples and Sicily, French prince, grand elector of the Empire, willing to confirm, by a constituonal statute those fundamental principles, by which the monarch is to be governed, has decreed, and does decree the following:

:

OF RELIGION-The Catholic, Apostolic, and Romish religion is the religion of the tate.-11. OF THE CROWN-The crown of Naples shall be hereditary, in the right of pale issue, according to the primogeniture f birth.-11. OF THE REGENCY-1. The sing is a minor till he attains the age of 18 ears.-2. In case of the prince's minority, he regency will, by right, devolve upon the queen and in her absence, to a prince of he blood royal, who shall be chosen by the mperor of the French, in his capacity as head of the imperial family; and in failure hereof of a prince of the blood, the choice ill devolve upon the nation.-3. The yearsalary of the regency is confined to a ourth of the grant to the crown.-4. The Education of the minor king is entrusted to his mother, and in her absence, to the prince Boninated by the predecessor of the minor. -The remaining articles relate to the offi cers of the crown, the ministers, the council of state, &c. The article respecting the parliament confines the number of members to one hundred, who are to be divided into five classes, viz. the ecclesiastics, the nobles, the holders of landed property, the learned, and the merchants.

Order of the Junta of Badajos, 21st June,

1809.

A respectable person of this city received a letter yesterday by the post, written by a priest to his brother, to the following ef fect :-It is notorious that Marat, apprized that in various places they opened the mails, and killed those persons who favour the French interest, has adopted the infamous plan of writing to the magistrates elected by the people, a letter to the following purport-Sir, I observe what you write me, and on such a day will arrive in your neighbourhood, with the number of French troops you desire, in order to restrain the revolu tionists. Such are the contests; and the object is, manifestly, that when the letters are opened, treason may be attributed to the new commanders, and thus their death may be occasioned, and the army of the patriots be left without leaders.-This expedient, which has been detected, gives some idea of the precaution necessary to avoid the conse quence of the perfidy of Murat and his agents, who are endeavouring to spread dis cord and confusion among the people in every possible direction. If union and good order be not preserved, we shall never accomplish the purpose we have in view, which is to defend our religion, our country, and our beloved sovereign Ferdinand VII. Be valiant and loyal; respect the magistrates and constituted authorities; forget private resentments, and all will be attained.

Proclamation at Badajos, 27th June, 1808.

It appears that the divine blessing again attends us and the generalissimo. Our Lady of Pilar has given us a new proof of her favour and protection. After the French had fallen in the battles of Tudella, Mallen, Gaul, and Arragon, in which places they appeared to the number of five or six thousand, an army of 12,000 French had orders to enter Saragossa on the day of Corpus Christi, and the command was, that the town should be penetrated although only one soldier remained to descend from the ramparts. By the miraculous interference of the Holy Virgin, a battle was fought by the patriots against these troops, at the distance of only a gun-shot from Saragossa. All the French were put to the sword, not a single man remained to tell the dismal narrative to his countrymen. The Arragonese fought like furies, and as they approached the enemy, they threw away their muskets and rushed upon the plain regardless of life. Four

hundred horses which remained, and 27 baggage waggons, were taken after this victory. Our loss, it is supposed, has been great, but without considerable sacrifices no such triumphs can be acquired; conquest however will amply repay us the loss we sustain.This is communicated to the public for its

satisfaction, by order of the junta. ANTONIO BERGER, Sec.

Extraordinary Gazette of Saragossa of the 3d July, 1808.

The day before yesterday, the 1st instant, about midnight, the French army encamped in the envirous of this capital, began to bombard the town, and continued the bombardment until the evening of the following day during which time, upwards of one thousand four hundred bombs and shells, were thrown into the place. The French cavalry and infantry attacked some of the gates; but the heroic valour of the inhabitants and troops of the line succeeded in destroying, by a well directed fire, which was kept up with uncommon briskness, all who came within the range of their guns. The neighbouring fields were strewed with the dead bodies of the French. The patriots bravely maintained their post, amidst the numberless bombs and shells which struck their batteries.-In the afternoon of the 1st instant the attack was continued by the French artillery and foot, but they were also routed with a very considerable loss.-On the 2d inst. at break of day, the attack was renewed at all points, and after having sustained a severe loss, and convinced themselves of the persevering valour of the defenders of this capital, the French troops retreated, after a fire, which lasted twelve hours, without intermission, and proved extremely destructive to their ranks. The enemy's bombs, shells, and balls, without doing any considerable mischief, merely served to increase the hatred entertained against the enemy, and to remind us of the sacred duties which we owe to our religion, our country, our honour, and our king. -The gallantry displayed by the officers and soldiers, and in particular by the artillerymen, and the officers and troops, who were stationed in the batteries and points attacked, is beyond all praise. His excellency the governor and captain general, in order to shew how much he feels concerned in rewarding distinguished intrepidity and courage, has directed the different commanders to send in a list of the officers and soldiers of the regular troops, and the mass who have particularly distinguished themselves in order to bestow on them, in his majesty's name, those marks of distinction which their eminent services deserve, and transmit to posterity the names of those worthy defenders of their country. In expectation of these particular and correct returns, he has been pleased for the present to promote colo

nel Don Antonio Torres to the rank of brigadier general, and appointed lieut. colonel Don Marco de Pont of the volunteers of Saragossa, and Don Domingo Lariepa of the volunteers of Extremadura, who defended the gates of Postillo and Carmen, colonels in the army; captain Don Salvador Cesta, major of the corps of artillery; and Don Geronimo Pinerio, and Don F. Bosete, ensigns of the same corps, lieutenants. The two latter ar rived in the morning from Barcelona, and without taking the least repose, immediately assumed the command of the batteries of Portillo and Carmen, where they covered themselves with glory. A great number of arms have fallen into our hands, and in the possession of the French, slain in the action, many precious articles were found, of which they had robbed the churches and private houses: we have taken a great number of prisoners of war.-In the town of Exea twenty-five of the enemy's cavalry and foot were made prisoners, and brought to this capital. By an express which left Valencia on the 30th of June, the pleasing intelligence had been officially received, that the French army, commanded by general Moncey, ha ving approached the said capital on the 29th ultimo, the batteries opened upon them, and kept up for seven hours with such unremitting briskness, that the French were defeated with immense slaughter, and the neighbour ing fields were covered with their dead. The remains of their army retreated in the utmost disorder, exhausted with fatigue, and destitute of provisions, with a vast number of wounded, on the road to Madrid, where the main body of the army of Valencia awaits them to cut off the retreat of the few who remain, and put them to the sword, in return for the acts of violence against this capital.

Appointments of his Catholic Majesty Joseph Napoleon, at Bayonne, 4th July, 1808.

Ministers. Their excellencies Don Louis Mariano de Urquiso, secretary of state; Don Pedro Cevallos, minister for foreign affairs; Don Michael Joseph de Azanza, minister for the Indies; admiral Don Joseph Massaredo, minister of the marine; general Don Gonzalo O'Farril, minister of war; Don Gasper Melchor de Juvellanos, minister of the interior; Count Cabarrus, minister of finance; and Sebastian Pinuela, minister of justice.

Captains of the body guards.-Their excellencies duke del Parque, grandee of Spain, duke de St. Germain, grandee of Spain. (To be continued)

Printed by Cox and Baylis, Great Queen Street; published by R. Bagshaw, Brydges Street, Covent Garden, where former Numbers may be had sold also by J. Budd, Crown and Mitre, Pall-Mall,

[blocks in formation]

fact of actual commission of the act would seem to be of little consequence; for, the great burden of the pleading against the defendant, is, that he has "seduced the

affections" of the plaintiff's wife, which may be no crime at all, either legal or moral, no man being able to prevent a woman from liking him better than she likes her husband. Only tell a man that he is not bound by his oath; tell him that he is to decide upon opinion and not upon evidence; and you have no longer any hold upon him; all is left to fashion and to chance; or, rather, the plaintiffs in such cases, have for their jurors, a set of men who, from a reason founded in human nature, are decidedly in their favour. It was the old practice, to stick to fact; and, it was necessary to bring good substantial proof of the act being committed, before there was the smallest chance of obtaining a verdict of guilty. Without insisting upon this, what woman's reputation or fortune can be safe? Suppose a scoundrel wishes to get rid of his wife. He may, with the assistance of a brother scoundrel, easily obtain very specious circumstantial proof, that his wife has been guilty of adultery. Nothing is easier either to conceive or to execute. The parties accused of the crime are incapable of being examined in evidence; the woman is no party in the cause; and, in the case supposed, she maybe branded as an adulteress and sent to starve, being all the while conscious of perfect innocence. Then, as to the

SUMMARY OF POLITICS. CRIM. CON.It is not of the sin and shame of the acts of adultery, which are new daily coming before the world through the courts of justice, that I mean to speak upon this occasion. They are the natural consequence of the manners of the times, and those manners as naturally proceed from the size and luxury of the metropolis, which draws together, through the means of taxation, all the wealth and all the vices of the country. It is not, therefore, from any feeling of compassion towards the cuckolds hat I am led to offer a few observations apon the subject; for, nine hundred and inety nine times out of every thousand, the nan who is known for a cuckold ought to one. The law gives him so much power wer the poor feeble framed creature whom e has married; he is so completely the aster of her and of all she has; he has, f he be worthy of a wife, so decided an inence over her mind, that his cuckoldom pears to me to be almost impossible, unless tom his own fault. It is a man's own busiess to take care of his wife. Judges and tries are not, and never were, intended, be the guardians of any woman's chasti; and, it is the modern fashion of makg them moral censors, which I am desirous polating out for public disapprobation. A cuckold comes into court and asks r damages. There are, then, two dry estions of fact before the jury: 1st. whethe act of adultery have been commitand, 2d, what is the amount of the amount of the damages. The word damaal damage, which the complainant has ges seems, of late years, and especially as ained from that act. As to the first, applicable to this sort of charge, to have cumstantial evidence may certainly be quite lost its original legal meaning. The cient; but, then, it ought to be as compensation for damage is pecuniary, and, las is required in cases of treason, or therefore, the pecuniary damage should be Jer. No loose tales about dishevelled made appear; for, is it not a most shameand rumpled clothes and the like, oughtful abuse of words to talk of paying a man Batisfy any juror. Appearances are so for his mental sufferings? And, I should en deceitful, that the very strongest be glad to be informed, by any of the exould be viewed with distrust

Appear-perienced cuckolds of the day, what great

es may satisfy me, that the parties were ing and intended to commit the act; but, ess I am fully satisfied that the act has committed, I am guilty of faiseswearing give my assent to a verdict of guilty. cording to the new doctrine, however, this

difference there is between receiving payment for the chastity of a wife, and selling that chastity. When the poisonous transatlantic quack brought an action of damages against me for taking away is reputation, though the perjured jury did not require proof of

G

the falsehood of what I had publishest, they did ask for proof of the damage sustined by the plaintiff'; or, at least, such proof wis given by producing witnesses to show that his patients had left him. This was a very good thing; it was doing right to withdraw his patients from him; and Dr. Rowley, who wrote upon the subject of the quack's practice, says, I merited a statue of gold for iny atchievement. But, the damage to the quack, the pecuniary damage, was shown; as, in such cases, it certainly ought to be. Now, what damage is sustained by the cuckold? It is possible that there may be some damage sustained, in certain peculiar cases; but, it is the fashion now-a-days, not even to ask for any proof, or to produce any evidence to show, that damage has been sustained, though damages, in case of guilt, always make part of the verdict. If a man, being blind and being assisted by his wife in managing his business, were to lose her through the means of a seducer, it would be easy for him to make his damages appear. But, what damages can be made out by the far greater part of those who apply to the law? They have been robbed of their wives' society and conversation. These they may still enjoy, if they please; for, I'll warrant a wife of this sort talks none the worse for her adventure. Aye, but then comes that indefinite thing called comfort, which, if one can, in any case, affix any meaning to it, means, in this case, the pleasure of being deceived. Still we come back again to the point whence we started: the award is for compensation; for something to make up for what has been lost; and, the cuckold having lost the "comfart" he derived from his wife's society, receives from a court of law the "comfort" which is to be derived from a sum of money.But, the fact is, that the award has, in general, according to the present practice, nothing at all to do with real damages. It is a sort of fine inflicted; and, in some cases, a late judge openly directed the awarding of exemplary damages; that is to say, the punishing of a man by way of fine, under the form of making compensation to another man for a pretended loss that he has sustained; and the language of the fraternity of "learned friends" has been, that the jury are the "guardians of the public morals." If a man were indicted for the crime of adultery, then, indeed, the jury would be invested with a character somewhat of this sort: but, no man is, and no man can be, indicted for the crime of adultery. It is a crime of which the courts of law cannot tale cognizance; but, the truth is, that we

are a people completely lawyer-ridden; every thing is drawn to their shop ; the press and the pulpit, which were formerly looked to as sufficient for the checking of numerous vices, are now, it seems, hardly worth. notice; and, the former of the two has, by the lawyers, been so shackled, that it is, indeed, not to be trusted to for any useful purpose. Though you know a man to be a rogue, you are not to call him so, you are not to caution your neighbours against him; because, say the lawyers, "

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

you should bring such a man to justice." That is to say, you should bring him to our shop." But, to bring a rogue to their shop is an expensive affair; and, if the rogue be rich, it is odds but the real punishment fall upon. yourself. Into the places where justice is administered, scarcely any but lawyers are permitted to enter. The great Halls of Winchester and Westminster, for instance, which were evidently constructed for the purpose of receiving a large number of persons, that, according to the maxim of our constitution, justice might be administered in public, are now parcelled off. The places where the trials are held are boxed up with mean-looking boards to the very sun mit of the roof; little passages, or rather holes, are left for people to creep in and cat at; a man stands at each entrance to seled the persons who wish to enter; and the in side is filled with lawyers, or retainers of the law. From the public the hearing of the trials is as completely kept as if the trials were held in a room locked up. Over the several passage doors, at Winchester, are written, in order to prevent confusion: Court;" over another, Counsellors;" over another, "Attorneys;" over another, Witnesses;" over another, "Jury." But, no where do you find a door for the publica enter. Is this administering justice in psi lic? Can this be called an open court? Even the information, which, at last, the pubie get in print, respecting trials, they are compelled to purchase from lawyers; for it is generally seine briefiess "learned friend that supplies the news-papers with the re ports of trials. It is the accursed funding and taxing system, which has given rise such immense volumes of acts of parliament that has caused so fearful a predominance of this wily and yet daring profession, and that has brought so many persons to pine awa their lives in hunger, under a bob-taile wig and a black gown. Parents, tempted by the brilliant success of comparatively few, and by the riches which many mor acquire, through the means of the law, sen up their sons in swarms to be " bred to

66

66

66

"tar;" but, could they see the hungry thread-bare troops that cling about Westminster Hall and the Houses of Parliament, Eke half-perished flies, in the month of October, about the windows of a seller of sweets, those parents would rather send their children to be bred to the making of shoes. Poor souls! I know of no sight more painful than to see forty or fifty dozen of them squeezed into a half-circle, with visages clearly indicating want of necessary food, each anxiously looking forward to catch the eye of more fortunate brethren, and having his lungs upon the cock, ready to let off in a laugh the moment a pretence is offered, however 'miserable that pretence may be. Poor souls! to see them bustling along, in the morning, breakfastless to Court, as if anxious thousands waited their arrival, and the fate of whole families and classes depended upon their tongues; when, at the same time, both their backs and bellies can witness, that a gypsey fortune-teller surpasses them in the receiving of fees! This multitude of lawyers is a monstrous evil. Tuzo a man really learned in the law no one can is point of rank be more respectable.

The

profession of the law is not only necessary, bat honourable, and ought to be held in honour. It is when this profession draws every thing to itself; when it swallows up every thing; when it confounds and destroys that which is necessary to public happiness, that it becomes hateful; and to that point it is very fast arriving in England. It is for the Spiritual court, or, which is still better, an unshackled expression of private and Fablic opinion, to check and to punish the crime of adultery, which, in returning to my subject, I repeat it, is not cognizable in a court of law. Sir JAMES MANSFIELD, who, before he was made a judge, had long been considered the most learned lawyer in England, has lately told the jury, that they are not to look upon themselves as being in the capacity of moral censors. This is, I hope, the beginning of a change in the practice, which has, for some time, prevailed; for if exemplary" damages are, given in cases of crim. con. why should not exemplary damages be given in cases of trespass, assault. &c. &c. and, then, what man would be safe? Damage is a specific thing; a thing to be ascertained; and though not to a nicety, in all cases, yet so nearly as to leave but little room for the doing of injustice to either party. The amount of damage done, can, in no case, depend on the rank or means of the party doing it. If a man be knocked down by a shoeblack, the damage is full as great, as

1

if he had been knocked down by any of the ants' hill of knights about London; and, I should be glad to know, from some thorough-paced cuckold, whether his footman is not as able at the work of depriving him of "comfort," as any of the young lords, whom his wife retains or withdraws from the stews. If the footman deprives Sir Baalam of his comfort, why should not the footman have as heavy damages to pay, as if he had been a lord? Why should he

not? I should like to have an answer to this question. If a footman maliciously kil your horse, worth a thousand pounds, is not an award of a thousand pounds made against him? If, in ke manner, a lord kill your horse, is not the award the same? Damage is a word always bearing the same meaning; and, upon what principle of our law is it, then, that the award in cases of crim. con., is made according to the tank, or pecuniary means, of the defendant? Were I upon a jury, in a case of crim. con, I would eat my boots, soles and all, before I would award to a cuckold one single penny more than I believed him to have lost by the act of the defendant.- By a contrary practice what a field is opened for the vilest of all robbery! For my part, I can see nothing easier, if a rogue and a handsome and cunning woman are agreed, than to make a very pretty fortune by a crim. con. speculation, and that, too with such evidence as is now received, without the help of the sin of adultery. The jilt has nothing to do but entice a rich man into her trammels; and, without communicating the plot to any one, the husband will soon obtain evidence suflicient for the purpose of obtaining damages to the amount of thousands of pounds. The pair may then live together upon the fruit of their plunder; or, if they like it better, they may separate, and each take a share. The law of this land, which had foreseen every thing else, had fores en this also; therefore, in speaking of damages, it means real damage, damage that can be proved to have been sustained; and not imaginary damage, damage that exists in the fancy; dainage purely mental, and which, therefore, it is impossible to ascertain; because, though the fact be proved, one plantiff will be deeply afflicted at what will be with another a subject of joy. A law, Or a practice, therefore, which tolerates these awards of damages for the loss of "comfort," must necessarily be the most uncertain and capricious of all things. The doctrines we have heard, upon this subject, and the verdicts we have witnessed, cannot fail to have a tendency to render

« AnteriorContinuar »